The Impact of Human Activity on Whale Populations#

To explore the dynamics between fishing yield and whale protection, we analyzed marine data on whale sightings, fishing activity, and ship movements across multiple regions and years. Our goal was to understand the scale and geography of interactions between whales and human activity. By presenting both ecological and economic perspectives, we hope to contribute to a more nuanced understanding of how marine space can be managed to serve multiple priorities.
The Scale of the Fishing Industry#
We began by examining the scale of the global fishing industry to provide context for the data story. Understanding how large and widespread fisheries have become over the past decades helps frame the intensity of human activity in marine environments.
From 1960 to the late 1980s, global capture fisheries production experienced a steady and steep rise. This surge coincided with post-war technological advances in the fishing industry (Pauly et al., 2005).
Since around 2000, global capture production has plateaued, with slight fluctuations but no sustained increase, which suggests that most of the world’s major fisheries have reached or exceeded their sustainable limits.
The question that arises from this visualisation is whether the growth of capture fishery productions is the cause of increased whale deaths.
To understand where fishing activity is most concentrated, we looked at total capture fisheries production by country. This helps identify key players in the industry and regions where the intensity of fishing may be most likely to intersect with marine wildlife. The maps below show total fisheries output by country since 1960, cumulative and annually respectively, zoomed in to reflect the 95% range to avoid extreme outliers.
The geographic distribution of the capture fisheries production reveals a clear pattern: production is especially concentrated along the coasts of the Pacific, Meditteranean and Indian Oceans. The darker shading in these regions reflects sustained, high levels of extraction over decades.
When plotted over time, total global fisheries production shows a sharp rise from the 1960s, peaking around 2000, and then stagnating. However, this plateau suggests, again, that limits have been reached.
This map, although not explicitly marking whale-human incidents, helps pinpoint regions where intensive fishing is most likely to overlap with whale migration routes and habitats. Regions with dark blue shading, especially parts of Asia and the Americas, are critical areas where both production and ecological risk converge.
The Economic Contribution of the Fishing Industry#
To place the fishing industry in a broader economic context, we next looked at its revenue as a percentage of global GDP. This helps illustrate not just the scale of fishing in physical terms, but its relative economic weight, offering insight into how significant the industry is compared to the wider global economy.
This graph shows a significant downward trend. In the early 1990s, the industry contributed around 0.0023-0.0025% of global GDP. By the mid-2000s, this had dropped below 0.0015%, and in the last decade, it has hovered below 0.0010%, with minor fluctuations.
In macroeconomic terms, these are extremely small percentages. While fishing remains vital for certain regions, jobs, and food systems, its direct financial footprint on the global economy is marginal.
The Nutritional Importance of the Fishing Industry#
While the fishing industry may represent a small share of global GDP, we know that its value extends far beyond economics. In many parts of the world, fish is a crucial source of nutrition, particularly protein, and plays a key role in food security. In this section, we explored the nutritional importance of the fishing industry and how its output contributes to diets.
This graph illustrates that global fish and seafood consumption has risen from just over 2,000 kg/year in the early 1960s to nearly 4,500 kg/year by the early 2020s. This trend reflects a growing demand for aquatic protein globally.
As consumption continues to grow, the question is whether the challenges of managing marine resources sustainably also continue to grow.
To put fish consumption in perspective, we next compared it to other sources of dietary protein. This allowed us to see how significant fish and seafood are relative to meat, eggs, dairy, and plant-based proteins in the global food system.
It is clearly visible that the share of fish in the global sources of dietary protein has more or less stayed constant since 1960, even though fish intake in absolute terms has more than doubled (from the last graph). As a result, fish continues to play an important role in feeding the world, even if its share of the total protein mix remains modest.
Whale Ship Strikes#
While the fishing industry plays a role in global nutrition and livelihoods, its presence, along with that of global shipping, could bring risks for marine life. In the following section, we shift focus from the human benefits of ocean industries to their impact on whales, starting with a look at global ship strike risk.